Morecambe boss Bentley: No complaints over Exeter postponement

Morecambe boss Jim Bentley said referee Andy Haines had no option but to call off his side’s clash with Exeter City on Saturday.

The referee postponed the game at about 1pm after a morning of torrential rain left the Globe Arena pitch unplayable.

Bentley said: “It is a shame because we obviously really wanted to play but the referee had no choice really.

“The referee was here early and the pitch was playable this morning but the rain just didn’t stop and you have to think about the safety of the players.

“We are obviously disappointed because we were looking forward to our first Saturday home game for quite a while but it wasn’t to be and we have no complaints.”

The referee said: “I was at the ground at 9am and it was playable at 10am.

“The Morecambe ground staff worked hard to get it on and covered the most problematic areas. But 10 minutes after they took the covers off there were puddles and the ball just wasn’t rolling. We looked at the weather forecast which showed it was going to keep raining for some time and it would have been dangerous for the players.

“No one likes calling games off and I really feel for the Exeter players and fans who would have made the journey and I spoke to Paul Tisdale but he fully understood that player safety has to be a priority.”

Despite the late postponement there were no complaints from the Exeter side, a similar thing having occurred when the sides met at St James’ Park a couple of seasons ago.

Chairman Julian Tagg told the Western Morning News: “It is unfortunate for the fans in terms of the time they have wasted, but it has happened before and I’m sure it will happen again.

“We have been there before with Morecambe in the past when the match at St James’s Park was called off late and it is really unfortunate, but you don’t really have any choice.

“With the weather patterns that we have seen, and it is so prevalent on the news at the moment, there is very little you can do about it.”